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Barrow defeats Thomas for the 12th Congressional District seat

Congressman John Barrow jokes with, from left, Chatham County Commissioner Pat Shay, Natalie Lanier and Eva Gonzalez during a campaign party at the Avia Hotel Tuesday night. (Photo by Carl Elmore/Savannah Morning News)

Congressional District 12 candidate Regina Thomas, wearing a colorful hat, chats with supporters Joseph DiNatale, Ruthie Tate and Victoria DiNatale on Tuesday evening during a campaign party at the Garden of Eden restaurant. (Photo by Carl Elmore/Savannah Morning News)

Tuesday night looked a lot like 2008 for U.S. Rep. John Barrow.

As he did during that year’s primary, Barrow blocked former state Sen. Regina Thomas’s attempt to snag the Democratic nomination from him for the 12th Congressional District seat.

“We’ve been working hard to get every vote we can get,” Barrow said. “We’ve reached out during my term in office to reach out to all the folks we can.”

At about 10:30 p.m., with 61 percent of the precincts reporting, Barrow led Thomas with 67 percent of the vote.

At that time, it appeared Barrow’s Republican opponent in the Nov. 2 general election would not be determined until an Aug. 10 runoff between top vote getter Ray McKinney and second place finisher Carl Smith. Neither candidate earned more than 50 percent of the vote by then.

During her campaign, Thomas had been critical against Barrow’s vote against the national health care bill. But Barrow defended his vote, saying the bill does not do enough to bring costs under control and puts too much of a burden on those who are already insured.

Read the full story and get complete local and state primary results in Wednesday's Savannah Morning News or at savannahnow.com/elections.